Meet Veep's Jonah, the Best Idiot on TV

Actor Timothy Simons on what makes Jonah so weirdly beloved

Everyone knows a Jonah Ryan. Yes, just like the ass-kissing, egotistical White House liaison portrayed by Timothy Simons on HBO's acclaimed Julia Louis-Dreyfus-starring absurdist political comedy, Veep, a buffoon can be found in nearly every office in this great country, an individual whose overinflated sense of self is matched only by his or her ability to increasingly annoy us with every passing minute.

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Perhaps because we secretly wish we could be as numb and thickheaded as he is, there's something lovable about Jonah, who ups his outcast ante on Veep even further after being fired in last night's third-season premiere. We turned to the source for answers. Simons talked to us about why the world is drawn to dunces like Jonah Ryan, what's so compelling about Washington, D.C., and why Hollywood has just as many self-centered Jonahs as our nation's capital.

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ESQUIRE.COM: Has it caught you off-guard how many people love Jonah?

TIMOTHY SIMONS: A little bit, yeah. ButI mean, he's not a full-on villain. I think maybe it's a little weirder when people identify with and love, like, Walter White. I think that would be a little more surprising. Because I don't think Jonah is a truly irredeemable person. Ultimately because he makes people laugh, they like him more. I also think that audiences like seeing other people they hate in him and I think that they like seeing him treated poorly because it reminds them of people they hate. Maybe that's the draw.

ESQ: He's just so irritating most of the time though.

TS: Part of it also might be that he is able to act on a lot of impulses and that he has absolutely no shame and seemingly no ability to be embarrassed. And I think, whether we'd admit it or not, there are times where people would be like, "I wish I was as stupidly confident as that person."

ESQ: Jonah toes that line between being career-driven and career-obsessed. I'm guessing you've seen some people who cross that line in Hollywood.

TS: Absolutely. There are people I've met in LA who kind of only talk about the business. Because maybe they think that's the best move. They'll only talk about the stuff they have going on or some script they're writing or some movie that they're acting in that weekend or who they know in the business. But ultimately it kind of backfires because people who can only talk about one thing end up being fking boring. And you don't want to be around them.

ESQ: I'd rather know an exciting asshole than a boring one-track-minded drone.

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TS: In a lot of jobs people just wanting to physically occupy the same room as you is a big deal. It's much harder to get a job if nobody wants you around.

ESQ: Though much like Jonah, those people seem to always be around.

TS: Yeah. And when he leaves a room and everybody's celebrating that he's leaving it he usually thinks, "Man, killed that! I was great at that party. Everybody loved having me there."

ESQ: Since taking on this role, I imagine you've had friends and family come forward with tales of their own Jonahs they know from the workplace.

TS: We've seen funny comments come in from people in D.C. being like, "Every office has a fking Jonah." And that in some way the character names from the show are starting to be used as shorthand is obviously a compliment.

ESQ: Maybe your depiction of D.C. isn't all that outlandish after all.

TS: I guess that just means that we are unfortunately a realistic comedy.

ESQ: Many of the cast members consulted with politicians in Washington. Who the hell did you talk to in order to get insight into a moron like Jonah? The social pariahs of Washington?

TS: I found as everybody else was meeting their counterpart, I think I'm the only one that has never met mine. Because ultimately, let's say it's your office and somebody calls up and says, "Hey, I'm buddies with Matt Walsh and he wants to take us out to drinks and talk to us about his scene." If you're some guy who works for a congressman or whatever and you're gonna ask your friends to join you, you're never going to ask the Jonah to join you. Because he would be awful. He would be a brown-nose-y suck-up and he would quote Matt Walsh's lines to him and make it a real fking nightmare. If you were actually a Jonah and we met, there's no way you'd call yourself a Jonah. A Jonah never knows he's a Jonah.

ESQ: Right. A Jonah will think he's making all the right moves.

TS: If Jonah were truly able to look inward and know his lack of self-worth he would collapse like a house of cards. And that's one of the things that I love about the show: It's the rivalry that [Reid Scott's] Dan and Jonah have. And in this season that's very present. We butt heads a lot. And I think in Jonah's mind, it's like, "We're so similar. We're two charming up-and-comers. Both are really attractive. Women love us. We get dates." He just thinks he's Dan. He just thinks he's in that same world.

ESQ: I'm curious to get your take on why Washington, D.C., is having a real moment on TV, what with Veep and House of Cards both being very popular.

TS: I dunno. It's a good question. I think that maybe there's a very relatable idea. There's a present power structure. And it's always something that everybody knows. The majority of our country knows about the federal government. They know how that works. And the stakes are so high. That's really what makes a story. Just add a ticking clock to it and you have a screenplay. Also a lot of politicians are becoming celebrities in a different way. And we're a celebrity-obsessed country. It just makes people want to pay attention. And it's very divisive. You never get a "whatever" reaction when talking politics.

ESQ: Before I let you go, I just have to ask: How does one prepare themselves for the onslaught of physical appearance-related insults thrown your way on the show? Jonah gets it pretty bad.

TS: I've had a long history of it. I was born tall. I was awkward and gangly. Before that I was a really chubby elementary school kid. I've always been sort of a physical abnormality. And so I have taken a barrage insults in my life for that reason. So there's been no veil to lift for me to reveal, "Oh, you look like a weird gangly muskrat." I kind of already knew that. So there isn't a lot of preparation. You just have to thank the bully for years of abuse. There is also the other side of it, where whenever I get insulted on the show, I just think, "They think Jonah's weird-looking." As if it's not my face they're talking about.